From Nathanael Greene

[dateline] Camp Middlebrook May 28. 1777

[salute] Dear Sir

I receiv'd a letter from you some days since. I have it not with me, and therefore
cannot be very particular in the Answer. I re• { 207 } member you lament the general corruption of manners, and the increase of vicious habits
that prevail in the Army;1 It is a serious truth, and much to be lamented; I know of nothing that a people can
receive in exchange, for the loss of their Morals that is an equivelent; I am sensible
of the force and Justness of your remarks, that the vices of the Army prevents many
from engageing in the service, more than the hardships and dangers attending it.

I am not one of those fine Gentlemen who dispises all Moral rectitude and Religious
duties. Altho I am no enthusiast, I nevertheless most devoutly believe, in the observance
of Religious duties.

I have had it hinted to me that General Schuyler was about to be created President
of the Congress,2 and to hold his Milatary command in the Army. I take this early opportunaty of expressing
my abhorrence of such a measure; No free people ought to admit a junction of the Civil,
and Military; and no men of good Principles, with virtuous intentions would ask it,
or ever accept of an appointment, which may be improv'd by corruption, to the prejudice
and injury of the Rights of a free people; The best way to guard against evil is to
avoid temptation. If General Schuyler is a mind to be in Congress, let him resign
his Commission, and not hold two offices, so incompatible one with the other. I have
no objections to General Schuyler as a General, neither have I to his being President
of the Congress, if he is thought to be the most suitable person for that important
trust; But he must cease to be a General, before he commences a member of Congress.
I will not hold a Commission under that State who blends those two Characters togather;
I think them incompatable with the Safety of a free people, and I can assure you,
I am not fighting for a change of Masters, but to have none but the Law.

I must again repeat the impropriety of creating so many foreign Officers; A very considerable
part of our force will get into their hands: What method can Great Britain take to
defeat us more effectually than to introduce a great number of Foraigners into the
Army, and bind them to their interest, by some very interesting considerations; That
this is practacable, nobody will doubt? That we ought to guard against it, every body
must allow. British Gold may reason forcibly with those whose hopes and future expectations,
are not connected with the people they betray.

I am told by Capt. Moduit,3 a French Gentleman lately created a Captain in the Train of Artillery, that one De
Cudre4 is engaged by Mr. Dean as Major General of the Train. The impropriety of putting
a foraigner at the head of such a Department, must be obvious to every body; besides
the Impropriety, you will deprive the Army of a most valuable Officer,5 universally acknowledged as such; The exchange will be much against you, besides
the injustice you will do to a man who has serv'd you with Fidelity and Reputation.
I beg you will take it under consideration seasonably. I know not the powers of Mr.
Dean, but I think such powers are Dangerous, and unfit to trust with any man. If this
Gentleman is to be appointed a Major General, I wish it may be of the foot instead
of the Artillery.

Our Army is now Encamped, and I hope will be very soon compleatly organnized, fit
for some important purposes. Believe me to be Affectionately yr. Friend and Hble.
Servt.

2. Schuyler attended as a member of the congress from 7 April to 22 May (Burnett, ed., Letters of Members, 2:lx). Hancock did not resign the presidency until 31 Oct. (Edmund C. Burnett, The Continental Congress, N.Y., 1941, p. 251). No evidence has been found that Schuyler was considered for
president.

3. Thomas Antoine Chevalier de Mauduit du Plessis, who was later to gain Washington's
recommendation for a promotion to lieutenant colonel (Washington, Writings, ed. Fitzpatrick, 10:303–304).

4. Philippe Charles Jean Baptiste Tronson du Coudray, whom the French had given the responsibility
of drawing upon their arsenals for artillery and ordnance for shipment to America
through Beaumarchais. Silas Deane had agreed that Du Coudray should accompany the
munitions to America, where he would receive a commission as a major general in the
Continental forces. The retroactive date of his proposed commission would have ranked
him ahead of Greene and Sullivan, and he arrived at a time when many were beginning
to question the equity and wisdom of placing foreigners in high positions. A primary
reason for Deane's recall was his readiness to commission foreign officers. When the
congress delayed acting on Du Coudray's commission, he wrote several entreaties that
his agreement with Deane be honored. His petitions and a copy of the agreement with
Deane are among the papers of the congress (Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev., 1:421–422; JA to Greene, 7 July and notes, below; PCC, No. 156, f. 488–533). The embarrassing situation in which the congress had been
placed was fully resolved only by Du Coudray's accidental death as he was about to
join Washington's army, not as a major general but as inspector general of ordnance
with a major general's rank without retroactive dating. His title effectively protected
Brig. Gen. Henry Knox, who feared being superseded by this French expert on artillery
(JCC, 8:630; Freeman, Washington, 4:538–539).